£10 Saturday acca pays £536

Six with a fighting chance on Saturday

With the lower leagues in England and Scotland now at the promotion and relegation play-off stage, we have a reduced domestic football service at the weekend. Unfortunately, that’s a sign of things to come over the course of the summer.

The top divisions across Europe do remain active for the rest of May, meaning time may be running out to land that big price football acca, the golden ticket in betting, but there’s enough to keep punters interested in the short-term. We’ve picked out our top-five bets for Saturday, and when clubbed together in an accumulator, every £5 staked returns £536.

Southampton beat Middlesbrough

Boro are relegated and will be ducking back into the Championship at the first time of asking, sent back to the drawing board. They had a poor season in the top-flight and will want to learn from their mistakes and come back stronger. Southampton’s recent efforts are nothing to get excited about either, but they have endured a tough fixture list, facing four of the top-five in their last five games. The Saints will be desperate for a morale-boosting return to winning ways, and we think that they’ll get it at even money.

Swansea beat Sunderland

We’re taking the fighting Swans to do what Hull couldn’t last week and beat bottom-club Sunderland. The Welsh reps have shown a real stomach for a fight down the home-straight, and go into game 37 unbeaten in three. That revival shows wins over Stoke and Everton, as well as a handy draw with Man Utd. They are just a point above the drop zone, but a win here would go some way to saving their place for next season. 20/23 looks about right.

Arsenal beat Stoke

Another side who have completely turned their form around heading in to the better weather and Arsenal remain in with a shout of grabbing a place in the top-four. With a bit of momentum behind them, all The Gunners can do is keep pushing in the closing weeks and put pressure on Man City to slip. Stoke have won just one of their last nine matches, and are easy to oppose on that. Coral traders give 8/11 on the Londoners to boost their tally.

Bournemouth beat Burnley

Two sides free from the threat of relegation, and two sides with very little to play for at the tail-end of the season. Bournemouth can, if they want it, push for a top-10 finish, which would be an amazing achievement for the club. They are showing no signs of tapering off either, losing just two of their last 10, and go in unbeaten in three. That has to be admired, and they’re backed at home vs Burnley at 20/23.

Rangers beat Hearts

Moving to the Scottish Premiership and we have a fascinating Glasgow vs Edinburgh meeting in Govan as Rangers and Hearts face-off. The Jambos have been poor under boss Ian Cathro for much of the year, dropping to fifth in the table, losing six of their last 10. They were beaten by Aberdeen last time, while Rangers are far from convincing themselves, but are on a decent run under new boss Pedro Caixinha. The hosts will do us a favour here at 5/6.

Kilmarnock beat Inverness

Lastly, Killie are picked out to stick the boot into bottom club Inverness. The highlanders grabbed a rare win last time, but that was only their fifth of the season, as they charge towards the Championship. Kilmarnock have a bad habit of drawing, but at Rugby Park you’ve got to fancy them against the league’s basement boys. The 27/20 looks generous, and rounds us off.